Q's Labyrinth
by Goldmoonrider
Summary: What if Voyager didn't find the wormhole as a way back? This is what happens... Finally, Q has decided to send Voyager home! But, under one condition. Captain Kathryn Janeway and her senior officers must find their way through Jareth's Labyrinth and to the Goblin City! Watch them fight their way through the Fiery forest, away from Jareth's guards and find their way home.


As Captain Kathryn Janeway sat down in her chair on the bridge, Nelix filled her coffee cup up with pure, black coffee. All was well on the bridge, still on their course towards Earth, towards home. 7 years they had been stranded in the Delta Quadrant, facing the Borg with no allies but themselves, fighting back against the Cardassians. Since that first year being aboard Voyager, the crew had begun to act like a sort of family, which Janeway was happy about.

"Any good stories down in the mess hall, Nelix?" In the chair beside the one the captain sat in, Commander Chakotay sat, a set of the early morning reports in his hand.

The cook chuckled. "Well, Lieutenant Paris was telling some good ghost stories last night around midnight."

Up at the helm, Paris turned around with an innocent face upon him. "Come on, Nelix, it was only small story."

"About a Borg attack." The Talaxian corrected, heading over to the turbo lift. "Anyway, see you down in the mess hall." He said, stepping inside the lift and closing the doors.

Janeway chuckled lightly and sighed as Lieutenant Commander Tuvox walked over to her, handing in the daily security reports. "Nothing unusual, Captain." He reported as she read the lists.

"Well, it's always good to have you on the job, Tuvox." She smiled, handing them back and taking a drink of coffee. As he walked back to his station, Janeway stood up and looked down at her second in command. "I'll be in my ready room if you need me." She said, walking past another station and into her ready room.

"Greetings, Captain." Janeway jumped back as she saw a strangely familiar teenage boy standing across her ready room, standing with his right foot on her couch and his elbow sitting on the right knee.

Instinctively, she tapped her com badge for security. "Security alert in the Captain's Ready Room." She growled and went to her desk, grabbing a fazer.

"Who are you." She said sternly.

The man chuckled, stepping off the couch and moving closer. "How can you not remember me, Aunt Kathy? I'm your favorite godson, Q!"

Janeway peered at him with widened questioning eyes. "Q?" She asked, lowering the fazer. "I just saw you a month ago and you were a young man, at least younger than this."

Q smiled, and beside him, another man, this time much, much older, appeared. Janeway gasped as he did, recognizing him as the famous Q, the younger Q's father.

"Oh, Kathy dear, so nice to see you again!" He said, reaching his arms out for a hug.

Janeway sighed. "What do you want Q?"

Q chuckled, placing his hand on his son's shoulder. "Now why on earth would I want anything from you?"

Janeway narrowed her eyes. "Q..."

Q sighed. "Alright, here's the deal. My son and I were thinking, maybe it would be a nice thing to send you home. But first, we needed to test you, to see if you were worthy of our help. So, I knew of a perfect challenge we could put on you, you and your senior officers, that is. That's why I called in my favorite being in the whole galaxy, King Jareth of the underground!"

"Jareth of the what?" Janeway went around to the other side of her desk and went to her replicator, telling it to make her coffee, black. Once she has gotten it made, she went back to her desk and sat down.

Once she had sat, older Q kept going. "So, I met up with him-"

"_We_ met up with him." Q's son corrected, flashing a smile at the captain, who nodded with a smile and kept listening.

"He said it would be a good idea." Q said, ignoring his son's interruption. "So, tomorrow at 08:00 hours you, and your head officers, will be transported to his 'Labyrinth' to begin the test. If you finish the maze by 08:00 at night, you will be sent back here to your ship and me and my son will send you home."

Janeway sat for a moment, thinking. "It would be nice to get home, but why a test?"

"To see if you're worthy for us to send you home." The younger Q answered for his father, who smiled at his son and nodded to Janeway.

"What about the rest of the crew back here?" Janeway asked.

"Time will be stopped till you get home." Older Q said. "Well, we must be off. Come on, son, time to see the Zephron Solar System!" Both smiled at Janeway, waved to her goodbye and were gone.

Janeway stared at where they had been and let out a huff of frustration before sitting at her desk and tapping her com-badge. "Chakotay, I need to see you in my ready room." She said into it and sighed as her first officer walked into the room, hands behind his back.

"What can I do for you captain?" He asked, standing in front of her desk, a smile wide across his face like usual.

The captain placed her hands on her desk and clasped them together. "Our friend is back." She replied in a simple way.

Her first officer stopped smiling and glanced down for a moment before looking back up at her. "Let me guess, Q."

"Right." Janeway answered, sitting up. "And... he's decided to send us home." Before Chakotay could say another word, she cut him off. "Under one condition."

"What condition would that be?"

The captain sighed. "He is putting a test up for you, me, and the rest of the senior officers. Apparently, he has a labyrinth set up for us. At 08:00 tomorrow we will be transported off the ship and into the labyrinth. The rest of the crew and ship will stop in all time until we return, so it will be as if nothing happened."

Chakotay let out a deep sigh and looked at her through worried eyes. "Are you sure he's telling you the truth? Don't forget last time..."

Janeway smiled and nodded. "I understand the risks. But we have no choice. He's the one taking us off the ship, and you know him."

"Of course." Chakotay smiled and walked over to the door, turning back with a smile on his face.

Janeway understood. "I'll inform the crew of this at 21:00." She said, returning the smile and watching him leave.


End file.
